Absence Makes The Heart Grow Fonder
by EleanorLovett55
Summary: They say you don't know what you've got until you've lost it. Sweenett.


**A/N: I really don't know why I wrote this. Basically, it's pointless fluff. Ah well, we all love some good Sweenett fluff. This is also based off of 'Who I Am' by Nick Jonas and The Administration. I was inspired when I listened to it. Enjoy :)**

**Ele**

Sweeney Todd stared sullenly out of his window.

It had been two months.

Two months since she had left with the boy, shortly after he had completed his revenge. He told himself he didn't need her. Because he didn't. Oh, but he knew he did. After his revenge, he had sat down, and evaluated his life. He realised that she meant more to him than just a means of exposing of his evidence, or washing his bloody shirts. Somehow, she, Eleanor Lovett, had managed to slip past his heart's carefully wound defences until he couldn't stop his traitorous thoughts.

During the day, he thought of her. Sometimes, he thought he could hear her banging around in the kitchen below, just as she did every morning. But when he raced down the stairs, her pie shop was empty, just sitting there and gathering dust on every surface. Then he would retreat upstairs, thinking of her in all her pie making glory as she served London with a smile that only he recognised as sinister and wicked when she winked at him from below. Oh, he was foolish. He didn't know how he hadn't truly seen her, her macabre beauty in the hazel eyes and deathly pale skin, and those curls. The locks of ruby red that were the very personification of the precious rubies that he loved to watch spill from innocent necks. Truly, he wished he hadn't been so blinded by the lust for vengeance that he completely missed her.

At night, he dreamt of her. The only woman in the whole of goddamn London who would ever understand him, wholly and completely, for who he was. And not only did she understand him, she accepted him and loved him, even, for his dark manners. He dreamt of her in some sunny seaside home with the lad, both smiling and rosy cheeked. This in itself was torturing, but his dreams always worsened when a man without a face appeared and she would kiss him lovingly, her eyes dancing as the light played off a warm gold band on her left ring finger. Those were the nights when he would wake in a cold sweat, jealousy and anger pouring off of him. He couldn't help it. It would seem that absence does make the heart grow fonder, for his heart seemed to swell everytime he thought of her.

He knew it couldn't continue like this. Surely, he would go mad spending the rest of his days with just her image rolling around his head. So with a new resolve, he packed his bag, and left London.

XxX

Living by the sea was a wonderful thing, especially getting to see her Aunt Nettie again. It had been a while since they had last spoken, and Nellie loved being in touch with her only relative still alive but it grew on her nerves the way she continually tried to set up suitors for her. Today, for instance, she had a particularly wealthy merchant friend over for tea. He was handsome, Nellie would give him that, with his sandy brown hair and blue eyes. But there was something just too, creepy about his gaze, and the way they frequently revisited her chest. Right now he was drawling on about the trade business, and Nellie found it particularly difficult to keep focused on the topic. She gave an exasperated sigh, and turned back to Patrick, once hand cupping her chin as she gazed on in disinterest.

Nellie's thoughts drifted off to Mr. Todd, as they had tended to in the months that she followed after she left London. She wondered how he was faring, if he had already wasting away now that she wasn't there to shovel some food into him every so often and scrub his shirt clean every few days. She did hate to leave him so, but she had to. There was nothing else she could have done. He had slipped even further into his madness and depression, so far, that not even her love for him could have helped him then. So she had done the only thing she could. She left him and took Toby with her, to protect them should his madness slip and he end up killing all of them.

But now, some days, she missed him so terribly. She would give anything to be back with him, even if it meant she had to be chopping up bodies again. She would do it, because it would be for him.

"And then I told Mr. Eversting , that five pounds was completely ridiculous to pay for five parcels of cinnamon-"

Nellie roused from her thoughts and looked back at Patrick, his trader's talk simply boring her to tears. She jumped up when she heard a knock on the door.

"If you'll excuse me, Patrick, there's someone at the door," she told him as she practically ran from the room.

She opened the door and stopped dead in her tracks.

XxX

Gods, it would appear that living by the sea had made her even more gorgeous. Sweeney stood there, numbly staring at her. Her cheeks were rosily flushed, and her skin not so deathly pale. Her hazel eyes glittered with flecks of gold as she stared at him in shock, her plump pink lips parted.

"Nellie..." he muttered, before he stepped up to her and crashed his lips against hers. She squeaked in surprise against his mouth, before melting and clutching him around his waist as he cradled her head in one palm and tangled the other in her loose red curls.

His initially aggressive approach melted soon enough, replaced with tenderness as he stroked over her lips with his, her mouth delightfully red and swollen and ravished. She pulled back with a contented sigh, not understanding anything except for the extreme contentment that washed over her. He sighed and wrapped her up in his arms, resting his head against her head and inhaling the scent of her hair.

"Sweeney?"

"Hmm?" he muttered lazily as he stroked her back soothingly, making her shiver every once in a while.

"Sweeney. You are actually here, aren't you? This isn't a dream is it? Why are you here, Sweeney?" she cried suddenly, pulling her head away from her chest so that she could look him in the eyes.

He looked down at her with his dark eyes , and he gently swept a thumb across her cheekbone.

"Because, my pet, it has only taken me this long to truly understand that I can't live without my baker at my side. And no, I'm not talking about cooking or cleaning for me. I'm talking about by my side like a true woman stands by the side of the man she loves. Sweeney Todd does not have a wife. And the wife of Benjamin would have surely never have accepted or loved me like you do. Only you see me for who I truly am, pet. And you still love me for it," he told her quietly.

"Oh...Mr. T...Sweeney," she muttered tearfully, one hand pressed to her lips before he gently moved her wrist and kissed her lips again.

She pulled away and giggled, her tears spilling over onto her reddened cheeks.

"Oh, it took ya long enough you ruddy bastard!" she teased, swatting his chest playfully and he wrapped his arms around her waist, hugging her close to his chest.

"Oh, I know, my pet. And I shall spend the rest of my days making it up to you, this I promise," he told her in a low growl that sent the most delightful shudders down her spine.

XxX

Toby really loved his new life by the sea. Mrs. Lovett's aunt however, was one of the best people that Toby knew. Except for when she was setting her up with clotpoles like Patrick Robertson, who just so happened to be the most pompous middles class prick that Toby had ever had the displeasure to meet. He frowned when he walked into the parlour to see said pompous bastard sitting drinking tea.

"Where's Mrs. Lovett?" he asked suspiciously.

"She's gone to answer the door, boy, now make yourself useful and get me some more tea will you?" Patrick replied condescendingly.

Toby scoffed and rolled his eyes as he left the room with absolutely no intention of making that idiot more tea. He walked past the front door and stopped suddenly, his mouth falling open in shock.

Out there on the porch stood Mrs. Lovett, and dare he believe his eyes- Mr. Todd, all wrapped up in each other and kissing tenderly! He stood gobsmacked for a few more seconds before a wicked smirk grew over his features. He strolled back into the parlour and said,

"Sir, if you would kindly escort yourself out, it would be most appreciated."

"What? Boy, Mrs. Lovett and I weren't done with our conversation. Now about that tea-"

"Why don't you make yourself useful, and hurry up and leave? Mrs. Lovett has no use for you anymore, and I doubt she ever will!" Toby said heatedly, "Besides, she finds herself currently occupied and without need of your company anymore," he finished wickedly.

Patrick frowned and pushed past him, making his way to the front door.

XxX

"Eleanor!" a scandalised gasp came from the door and Nellie looked up in shock at Patrick standing in the door.

"I can't believe this! I- I thought we had a connection!" he said, throwing his hands in the air wildly.

She opened her mouth to speak, but he cut her off.

"No! Don't speak! It will just make our separation all the more easier!"

And with that, he pulled out his cane and strode pompously down the lane of the house and out of sight.

"What a bloody wanker," Sweeney grumbled, gathering Mrs. Lovett closer and touching his forehead to hers.

She chuckled and kissed him gently, smiling against his lips.

"Good on you, Mr. T!"

They both started and looked up to see Toby standing there with a wide smile and two thumbs up.

"What are you doing, lad?" Sweeney asked with a slight chuckle.

"Well, t'tell the 'onest truth, I prefer seein' Mum with you any day over that last bastard!" he said with a grin before turning and leaving the two adults alone.

Nellie smiled and buried her face against his shoulder as he ran his hand up and down the curve of her waist.

"That lad...I don't know what I'm going to do with him," she murmured.

"Love him, just as you love me," Sweeney stated matter-of-factly.

She smiled up at him.

"I can live with that," she said as she reached up and kissed him again.


End file.
